2018 LTT transition: buying a new main home after living abroad
Historic 2018 LTT transition
The official example says a couple replacing their main home avoided higher rates if their purchase counted by 26 November 2018. From 27 November, their earlier sale was too old for the three-year condition.
- The effective date was decisive.
- Keeping a buy-to-let did not prevent the temporary outcome.
- The example should not be treated as current guidance.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
2018 LTT transition: buying a new main home after living abroad
2018 LTT transition: buying a new main home after living abroad
This is a historic Land Transaction Tax example. A couple who kept a buy-to-let property could avoid the higher rates when their new Welsh home counted by 26 November 2018.
One day later, official guidance gives the opposite result. Land Transaction Tax replaced stamp duty land tax in Wales in 2018.
What this rule is about
An extra LTT charge can apply if you buy a home while still owning another property. An exception exists when you are replacing the home where you live.
This example covers a short-lived transition when those rules first changed.
For LTT, under a normal contract that completes without earlier substantial performance, the effective date is the completion date for the purchase.
That date controls the result.
What the official source says
Before working abroad, Mr and Mrs A sold their main home on 1 March 2015, rented while away, and kept a buy-to-let property during that period.
They later returned to Wales.
On 20 November 2018, they bought a home intended as their new main home.
- 26 November 2018: higher rates did not apply.
- During the temporary transition, the purchase counted as replacing their only or main home.
- In this example, the buy-to-let property did not alter that result.
- For a purchase counting on 27 November 2018 or later, after the temporary transition ended and because the old home had been sold more than three years earlier, the guidance says the higher rates applied.
- This was because the old home had been sold more than three years earlier.
What this means in practice
The issue was not whether the couple owned two properties. They did.
Instead, although the couple owned two properties, the tax result depended on the purchase date and on a special rule available only through 26 November 2018, which ended after that date.
One day could decide the outcome.
That distinction sounds small. It could change the tax due.
- Do not use this example as a general rule for a purchase today.
- For this historic case, check the counting date before looking at anything else.
- Keep proof of the date you sold your former main home.
- Keep documents showing that the new property was meant to be your main home.
How to analyse it
Start with the dates. The official example depends on a one-day change.
Assuming that completion is decisive can produce the wrong answer. Check the effective date.
- Work out the effective date under the contract and the LTT rules.
- Compare it with 26 November 2018 and 27 November 2018.
- Confirm when the previous main home was sold.
- Confirm that the new Welsh home was intended to be the home you lived in.
- List any other properties still owned, including a buy-to-let.
- Use the historic rules in force at that time, not today’s rules.
Example
Using the official facts, suppose the purchase completed on 26 November 2018 and counted during the transitional treatment, so the guidance says the higher rates did not apply.
That is the first outcome.
Change only the effective date to 27 November 2018, and the prior sale on 1 March 2015 then fell outside the three-year condition, so the guidance says the higher rates applied.
That is the opposite result.
The source gives no price, so it does not allow a tax calculation.
Why this can be difficult in practice
People often focus on the day they signed contracts, even though that date may not matter when the contract completes later without earlier substantial performance.
Check the effective date.
The historic transition makes this example unusually date-sensitive. Later changes to the law may affect the result for a different transaction.
Later law changes may alter outcomes.
- A completion date close to a legal cut-off needs careful checking.
- Earlier substantial performance can change the effective date.
- Calling a property a main home is not enough if the facts point elsewhere.
- Guidance does not set out every fact needed for every real-life case.
Key takeaways
- This is a historical 2018 transition example.
- One day changed the result in the official example.
- Check the effective date and the law then in force.
Technical analysis
For advisers, and for anyone who wants to check the law behind this page. You do not need this section to understand the guidance above.
Legislation
- LTTA 2017 section 10 — when completion sets the tax counting date
- LTTA 2017 section 24 — when a transaction falls within higher rates
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 5 para 3 — when a home purchase enters the higher-rates test
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 5 para 5 — ownership of another home for higher rates
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 5 para 8 — exception for replacing a main home
Official guidance
The pages below are the Welsh Revenue Authority’s guidance. Guidance is not law. It sets out how the Welsh Revenue Authority reads the legislation, and it is not binding on you, on a tribunal or on a court. Where guidance and the legislation differ, the legislation wins. the Welsh Revenue Authority can also change or withdraw guidance, and it may not cover your facts.
- Welsh Government, Transitional guidance on the introduction of Land Transaction Tax, section 16.5 Example.
Where this is not settled
- The supplied statutory material does not set out the historical transitional wording that created the 26 and 27 November 2018 cut-off.
- The source does not give the purchase price, so it does not establish the amount of any LTT that would have been due.
- This example cannot safely be used to decide a current purchase without checking the law then in force.
Evidence you would need
This kind of case is decided on the facts of the individual property. These are the records that usually settle it, and the ones an adviser would ask you for.
- The completion date and whether the contract was substantially performed earlier.
- Records showing when the former main home was sold.
- Evidence that the new home was intended to be the couple’s main home.
- Details of any other homes owned on the relevant date.
Explore this with an AI
Readers often want to test their own situation. Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It hands the model the actual legislation for this page rather than letting it answer from memory, and tells it to be explicit about what is uncertain. What comes back is information, not advice – check it against the links above.
I am researching Land Transaction Tax (LTT), the tax on property in Wales. It replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales on 1 April 2018, and SDLT does not apply in Wales. MY QUESTION 2018 LTT transition: buying a new main home after living abroad [Replace this with your own situation: what you are buying, the price, the dates, who the buyer is, and what you plan to do with the property.] THE LAW THIS TURNS ON - LTTA 2017 section 10 - when completion sets the tax counting date https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/section/10 - LTTA 2017 section 24 - when a transaction falls within higher rates https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/section/24 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 5 para 3 - when a home purchase enters the higher-rates test https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/5/paragraph/3 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 5 para 5 - ownership of another home for higher rates https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/5/paragraph/5 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 5 para 8 - exception for replacing a main home https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/5/paragraph/8 Guidance page from the Welsh Revenue Authority on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.wales/transitional-guidance-introduction-of-land-transaction-tax HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. Guidance from the Welsh Revenue Authority is its view of the law, not the law, and does not bind a tribunal or a court. 2. Tell me what the rule actually requires, in plain English. 3. Tell me which facts decide the answer, and which facts would change it. 4. Tell me what evidence I would need to support the position. 5. Be explicit about anything unsettled or fact-sensitive. Do not guess. 6. Your training data has a cutoff and SDLT rates and reliefs change at fiscal events. Say so if you are not sure the law is current. POINTS ALREADY KNOWN TO BE UNCERTAIN ON THIS TOPIC - The supplied statutory material does not set out the historical transitional wording that created the 26 and 27 November 2018 cut-off. - The source does not give the purchase price, so it does not establish the amount of any LTT that would have been due. - This example cannot safely be used to decide a current purchase without checking the law then in force. Do not give me a conclusion you cannot support from the provisions above.
Legislation links show the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 as it stood on 2025-11-17. The law may have changed since, and the rules that apply are those in force on the date of your transaction. The official guidance this page is based on is here.
This page was last updated on 4 September 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: 2018 LTT transition: buying a new main home after living abroad
Search Land Tax Advice with Google
